Dubai Marina residents see red over roadworks

Driving into Dubai Marina, on the stretch of road behind Jumeirah Beach Residence, takes a lot longer than expected.

The roads, which were once meant to be wide and meandering have reached a narrow bottleneck, tapering to one lane in certain spots, most notably by the Marina Promenade.

Christine Seychez, a resident of Dubai Marina, says the construction was already under way when she moved into her two-bedroom apartment a year ago. “Following a non-stop frenzy of all-hour activity, the construction on the roadworks now seems to have come to a full stop,” she says.

For residents, that means a bottle-neck delay in drive time on their way in and out of the street. “Renting in such a prestigious area, with the Marina Yacht Club behind me and The Walk in front of me, I would have expected everything else to be just as posh. Little did I realise that there were disturbing stretches of road blocks for my view from the 18th floor,” said Eugene D’Souza.

XPRESS is awaiting confirmation from the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) on whether the roadworks are due to building infrastructure for the upcoming Al Sufouh Tram Line, which will run from Dubai Marina up to the Mall of the Emirates Metro station.

Tram infrastructure

In a statement issued last month, Mattar Al Tayer, Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of RTA, said, “Works are currently focused on building the tram’s infrastructure along a corridor stretching from Dubai Marina to Jumeirah.” He added that the Al Sufouh Tram Project “extends 14km along Al Sufouh Road and the initial phase envisages the construction of a 9.5km-long track starting from Dubai Marina up to the Mall of the Emirates station.”

However, no information is available as to the end-date of the roadwork, or whether construction activity will even resume on that street.